Enter the Quaniverse

A work in progress. 

Television

• • Squid Game, Season 2: I can’t believe that so many people all around the world watched such a violent show in Season 1, which purported to say something important about the gap between the rich and poor, and the nature of human survival, but didn’t, really. It was fascinating to watch, culturally, and the characters, language and rhythm were quite interesting. But season 2 is a strange watch, so violent, and without moving the story along much. I will be resentfully watching Season 3 when it comes out. 
  • Missing You: I was drawn in by seeing this was, for a time, the #1 show in Australia in Netflix and also because I liked Rosalind Eleazer’s acting in Slow Horses. And the first episode had lots of promise with interesting characters and the promise of a decent thriller. But then none of the characters acted in a way that I felt was authentic. It was basically a thriller with lots of plot points and mysteries, and moving the characters around a chess board, feeling by the end, hollow. 
  • Black Doves: A spy who falls in love with someone she hasn’t done a background check on; an assassin who falls in love with someone and then continues to put them in danger: it makes for OK television but didn’t make sense to me. But I let myself ignore these plot problems and then found I really enjoyed this. 
  • Prime Target: I don’t know why we’re watching so much ludicrous TV and cinema these days. It started off entertainingly enough but then seemed to lose control of the story and writing and I lost interest. They somehow made Leo Woodall into the least engaging and attractive of his characters so far, and while I love Sidse Babett Knudsen, from Borgen, even she couldn’t save this for me.
  • Adolescence: Watched this, as apparently the rest of the world is doing as well. It’s harrowing and disturbing, amazing acting and great TV-making, though not necessarily enjoyable. But art is not always supposed to be comfortable. 
  • Severance, season 2: I think this may be my favourite TV show since Six Feet Under. The ideas are so complex and well-developed, it’s way more than entertaining: it’s engaging and challenging. Love the actors so much and the production design. So fantastic. 
  • White Lotus, season 3: I could write an essay on why I disliked this season, but instead I’ll summarise it as: I didn’t find the characters engaging, I found the storytelling sensationalistic and simplistic, and I hated all their publicity telling me what a genius Mike White is when he produced a poor, overhyped season. The music was doing the work, always telling us exactly how we were supposed to feel. I may just avoid the next season (and the hype). 
  • Ripley: Beautifully filmed in black and white, and a reminder of all the things I love about Italy, I’ve always liked Andrew Scott (from Sherlock and Fleabag). And I liked all the characters, but when there was a two-hou film of the story, it really felt like this was drawn out. A scene of sinking a boat, which might have been a fleeting moment in a movie, took up about a third of one episode! 

Documentaries and Reality Television

• • Great Pottery Throw Down, Season 8: This looked like it was going to be a good season and boy, was it. Maybe the most talented group ever, the right final three, and unusually, my favourite maker won! Loved this season. 
  • Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut: I think this is a really interesting issue, gut health and microbes, but I can’t say that the arguments are done very well here. Cute animations with felt and wool are engaging but I’m not sure they really get the points across. It seemed they wanted to talk about shit, literally, but without much more of a useful message. 

Television

• • The Crown, Season 6. We finally finished the last season of the Crown. While I appreciated the acting, particularly of Elizabeth Debecki and Imelda Staunton, it all felt a little too intrusive to me, the fact that many of the people portrayed are still alive, and the series is proposing stories about them which may be true (or not at all). Couldn’t miss watching it after watching and enjoying the other seasons, though. 
  • Fellow Travelers. Familiar with gay history, while I was looking forward to this show, I was also apprehensive. Would they get parts wrong? Could they tell such complex social histories well? I was very impressed all in all, with a real jigsaw puzzle of timelines that worked, and the two lead performances, which were compelling (and of course, they were very handsome). We really enjoyed this. 
  • Berlin. I watched 3 episodes and they were so bad that I wondered why House of Paper (Casa del Papel) was so good. But I remember: a great premise, magnetic characters, suspense and smart storytelling. None of which Berlin has. Of note: weird music video sequences with the characters excessively happy and mugging for the camera. Or Bruce, flirting with Keila, and saying he likes to ask himself whether his female objects of desire shave their pubic hair. Or not. WTF? 
  • Deadloch. We were superfans of Iceland’s Trapped and the amazing series ‘The Bridge’ so a Tasmania-set parody, with not just similar but almost exact recreations of the suspenseful and mournful music, the red herrings, the partnership between opposites, the quirky minor characters: all of this delighted me at almost a subconscious level. A good thing, since I also found the farce too much: that most characters spoke with the same voice and the same slang; that nearly all had an obsession with talking about genitals, shit and lesbians. That the episodes were a bit too long and that the characters’ quirks overstretched beyond farce to bloody annoying and utterly illogical. But overall: quite amusing. 
  • Boy Swallows Universe. The last episode was so weird and implausible that I had to look up what others were saying and they agreed (including a review of the book, which explains why they put it in the TV show). But it wasn’t so bad that it cancelled out a fair bit of enjoyment: a real sense of place, a milieu that I was unfamiliar with, some cracking Aussie dialogue, and great performances. The juxtaposition of a boy’s adventure tale with such violence of gangland mafia and drug addiction and dealing was jarring though.
  • Everything Now. Somewhere around 1991, I saw the movie ‘Flirting’, an Aussie coming-of-age story, and I loved it. The awkward main character and the sophisticated love interest, played by Thandiwe Newton. So, I always remembered her. Her daughter, Ripley Parker, only 23, is the creator and main writer of ‘Everything Now’, which I watched initially to check out the lead actor, Sophie Wilde, since she came for a reiki treatment! And I love the show. It’s like a more sophisticated and real version of Sex Education. The performances are amazing and the script complex. I thought it was really, really good TV. 
  • Sex Education, Season 4: I really did enjoy the early seasons of this show. I was charmed by the characters and happily shocked by how frank and open the show was about issues around sex and identity for young people. But this season, there are new characters and they and the old ones EACH get a storyline and the formidable Gillian Anderson spends the whole season in post-natal depression. It was a series of issues more than stories – bullying, transgender identity, religion and queer identity, asexuals, post-natal depression, sibling rivalry, sex counsellor rivalry, coercive behaviour, the cost of top surgery, adoption, a cancer scare, disability and accessibility, addiction, the loss of a parent. I was bored and disappointed. 
  • Expats: Having loved Lulu Wang’s gentle and moving film, The Farewell, I was primed to see this, in a setting that I’ve observed but not seen portrayed on TV: expat life in Hong Kong, with Filipino maids and wealthy Westerners. I loved parts of it, especially the feature-length episode focusing on the maids. Such diversity portrayed: different cultures, different languages and different classes. But I didn’t love all the series. 
  • Three Body Problem. Having read the book, the first one at least, I was very curious how they’d adapt it (and I loved Game of Thrones). Like the book, the science part is so complex that you just have to go with it. But I’m glad they tried to humanise the story, as I found it mighty impersonal and mental in the book. And like the book, it was disappointing to watch eight episodes with little resolve or idea of what’s going to happen next. 
  • Supersex. We thought that this would be like the Spanish series, Veneno, unapologetic about sex and sexual identity and infused with Latin passion. And some of the actors are very charismatic, including the lead. But I found this series more and more tawdry. So much focus on the brother, an unlikeable violent drunk, and a message becoming clear that straight male sexuality is pretty much uncontrollable: we lost our patience and liking for this. 
  • Baby Reindeer: Did that really just happen? I kept asking how this was brought to TV, how the writer would show not just his traumatising experiences, but his host of bad decisions. But I read Netflix asked if he wanted to do it, based on some of his stage shows, and he is an artist, a confessional artist. A harrowing watch and I think useful for the world, to see the sexual assault of a man and the aftermath. It’s quite a trick though: with the word ‘comedian’ in the description, you’d think it would be funny, but there was really nothing funny about this. 
  • Mary and George: Julianne Moore was amazing and Nicholas Galitzine held his own but this series didn’t grab me as much as it should have. A dark time, the early 17th century.
  • Star Trek Discovery, Season 5: I really only watched this because husband likes Star Trek, but even he didn’t find this season very good. The characters are one-note and often preachy, and they seemed to spend a lot of time telling each other how great they were. And these random new characters! Meh. 
  • This is Going to Hurt: I’m late to this party but had read great reviews and was pulled in from the first episode. It had a constant tension about it, like The Bear, only in a hospital rather than a restaurant. And instead of pretty food, it was gory, graphic medical scenes. I think I was shocked to figure out that the biggest discomfort for me as a viewer, worse than seeing the failing, underfunded health system and life-and-death scenes was how Adam, the protagonist was so unlikeable, that sharp, dark British humour covering up vulnerability, grief, honesty and often kindness. Overall, quite an amazing show. 
  • Hacks, Seasons 1, 2 & 3: We missed the Hacks phenomenon when it started but after numerous recommendations from friends, we checked it out. I really love it. TV is filled with odd couples, but I’ve never seen a combination like this. The episodes are short, sharp, funny and engaging. 
  • The Sympathizer: When the book came out, it was one of my favourites of that year. How would they turn it into a TV series? Very, very well, I discovered. Loved the lead. Loved Sandra Oh. Loved Robert Downey Jr chewing the scenery. Loved the design of it all. And like the book, it reminded me that I really didn’t know much about the Vietnam War and its aftermath and found this story and education complex, gripping and amazing. 
  • Drops of God: A look at the cultures of two of my favourite countries, France and Japan; a story about taste and tasting and the pleasures of degustation; a family drama; a mysterious contest: there’s a LOT here in this series based on a manga. I liked it for the most part. It was entertaining and unusual. 
  • Pachinko, Season 1: Having just read the book, I thought I’d check out the TV series, and it keeps enough of the book that it is recognisable but really changes things up to make it an epic TV series. I’m obsessed with the acting in this, and the sad, beautiful music. Bring on Season 2. 
  • Pachinko, Season 2: Still moving along nicely. Some harrowing emotional scenes. I find I can’t watch this show quickly. It’s too intense. 
  • Shōgun: Similarly, I’m loving the scope and scale of this. It has the mythic qualities and political rivalries of Game of Thrones, but was based more on an idea of reality. Loving it. 
  • Only Murders in the Building, Season 4: Much as I love the three leads, as some of the guest stars, this season was TOO MUCH. As most of the guest stars from previous seasons were still featured, to then add big celebrities to the mix, from Ron Howard and Eva Longoria to Melissa McCarthy and Kumail Nanjiani, made the season overstuffed.
  • Slow Horses: What a discovery. Those scenes between Gary Oldman and Kristen Scott-Thomas! I loved the first season, being introduced to the characters and concept. Found the second season not as engaging but loved the third: I love the character of Standish and am glad she gets something to do, and they fleshed out the other characters nicely. But I wasn’t as charmed by Season 4. Still, I do like those show a lot and am glad they’re making another season (or two). 
  • My Brilliant Friend, Story of the Lost Child: Having read all the books, and watching the first three seasons, of course I had to watch the last. But my reaction was confusing. I remember welcoming being drawn into a world that I’d known nothing about: political, historical and cultural. I remember a number of moments in the other series where I was really drawn in and fascinated, particularly by the central friendship. But I found the last series hard to watch and hard to connect with: watching the feminist author build part of her life chasing a mendacious philanderer, the violence that the characters inflict upon each other, rebellious children. I had to watch it, of course, for a sense of completion but am still a bit confused by it, particularly since many critics loved it. 
  • The Sticky: While I loved the concept of this and to see a TV show set in working class Québec, I found this a little too slapstick and don’t think there’s enough material to stretch it into a 2nd season (which is why the end was so unresolved).

Documentaries and Reality Television

• • Queer Eye, Season 8: We’ve been faithful watchers of this reboot from the beginning, and while husband cried pretty much every episode, I was unmoved. I didn’t fall in love with the heroes as I usually did, and I often disagreed with various decisions. I used to love Tan’s fashion advice but have somehow become bored with it. Karamo’s therapy: shout it out! shake it out! doesn’t work for me at all. So, I’m likely to take a permanent break from this one when it comes back without Bobby (who did all the heavy lifting anyways).
  • Great Pottery Throw Down, Season 7: British reality shows astonish me. In North America and Australia, people are generally after fame and making monetary deals, and the winners get $$$ and merchandise. So, to see a group of nice, interesting, kind people, doing what they love, in front of quirky judges, for the chance to win … a ceramic trophy and a bunch of flowers, is such a down-to-earth and humble experience. And I love Rose, the kiln technician. It’s got to be one of the most positive representations of transgender people on TV, because it doesn’t focus on her identity. She just does her work, brilliantly, while everyone treats everyone else with respect, kindness and support. 
  • Blown Away, Season 4: I’ve always loved this show, as the material is so beautiful and it’s a pleasure to learn about what makes a great piece. This season, with a new host, has the most breakages and the largest pieces yet. It’s harrowing!
  • Great Canadian Pottery Throw Down, Season 1: As a Canadian playing with clay, already a fan of the pottery throw downs, and from Vancouver, where the series was filmed, this was a LOT of fun for me to watch. 
  • Physical 100, Underground: When I was a kid in Vancouver, Canada, they used to have a show called ‘Battle of the Network Stars’, where they’d take attractive actors from the current popular shows and have them compete in athletic races, like a school sports day. I liked it. Those were the days I discovered superhero comic books, and there was this interesting framework about whose particular powers or attributes would allow them to win battlers against others. Flash forward to 2024, and this is what I remembered watching this Korean athletic competition. There is something interesting about seeing contests between firemen and secret service agents and weightlifters and wrestlers, and a category not known when I was a child: crossfitters. It’s also really interesting to see the Korean culture. I don’t think this show would work in the Western world: the egos and competition would be unpleasant to watch. But these Korean athletes, at the top of their game, often, are so humble, and kind to each other. At the same time, episodes could really drag on. We were glad when it was over.
  • Survivor USA, Season 46: I’ve always found the storytelling in this series outstanding, so much so that while I didn’t really fall in love with many of the players this year, I still loved the story.
  • Masterchef Australia, Season 16: A new set of judges after Jock’s sad demise and we’re still watching. I didn’t watch every episode, but tuned in, and still found the show inspiring for my own cooking, and enjoyed watching everyday Aussies cooking up a storm.
  • Great Pottery Throw Down, Season 4: I love this show and have even convinced husband to watch it with me. We were behind in watching them, and what a lovely surprise this was. The first season with Siobhan, I found her extra charming, and being filmed in lockdown, the potters had a special bond. They were a really lovely and talented bunch and a joy to watch. 
  • I am: Céline Dion: I did expect, as a documentary, that this would tell the story of Céline Dion, but as I read somewhere, the makers expect you to know her story already. So, this is a story of Céline Dion suffering from Stiff Person’s Syndrome. I frankly didn’t love it. 
  • The Boyfriend: I knew something about gay culture in Japan so was fascinated to see how far it has come. A gentle look at mostly young gay men living together in a reality TV house, with the possibility of romance, I found the contrast so stark between Western reality TV with the participants wanting to be celebrities, and these men who seemed quiet and modest and unassuming and somewhat tortured. I only watched the first two episodes and the finale, but I think I figured out all the important parts!
  • Hollywood Con Queen: A quick three-parter, three hours, and while The Guardian found it terribly boring, I found it fascinating to be hearing directly from someone who my husband clearly says has a narcissistic personality disorder (rather than the sociopathy that Harbinder is accused of). How audacious the scam was, how needy and crazy the perpetrator: I thought it made for gripping viewing. 
  • Ali Wong: Single Lady: Does comedy go under reality television? I remember Wong’s previous specials as making me laugh more. I’m still shocked and pleased that she goes THERE. Speaking openly about sex and desire, Asian-American identity and desire, the body and its horrors. But this one was too sharp for me. Everything seemed to be about how unlikable and demanding she is OR her sexual partners being not right for her.  
  • Survivor USA, Season 47: How did they manage to fit in another season of Survivor this year? Regardless: I love it. It’s unusual that the person we wanted to win from early on actually won, and this was a surprisingly enjoyable and entertaining season.
  • Dessert Masters, Season 2: Watching pastry chefs at the top of their game, making desserts that make me salivate, is enjoyable, and I found this season to have a lighter tone than the last, or perhaps I’m getting used to it. The contestants are game to participate, supportive of each other, and have lots of tricks up their sleeves.